The present invention is directed to a self-controlled concentrator for packet-synchronized fast data packet switching networks, wherein the totality of the respectively first bits of the input data packets controls the totality of the switch elements of the concentrator in accordance with their switch positions.
In communication nodes for communicating information (voice and data), the incoming lines are usually not fully occupied. In order to be able to construct the node itself correspondingly smaller, a concentrator is connected between the incoming lines and the nodes. It concentrates the incoming messages onto a smaller plurality of lines. Such a concentrator should be suitable for future packet switching networks and should operate in decentralized fashion, i.e. the path setting for the packets should ensue in the individual cross points and not in a central processor.
International patent application (PCT) WO 84/04011 discloses a proposed solution for such a concentrator. Its principles are described below in direct comparison to the present invention.